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This is what I do

Dr Sam Coulter-Smith, obstetrician

O
ne of the nice things about obstetrics is that it is very varied. You’ve got the different aspects of care of pregnant mothers and you’ve got gynaecology, so it’s two separate specialities rolled into one.

Your day usually revolves around ward rounds, teaching, clinics and then a theatre session, where you’ll do a mixture of emergency and routine obstetrics. There’s never a dull moment.

An obstetrician is a physician who looks after pregnancy. You’ve got two patients: the mother and the baby in utero. Gynaecology is looking after women’s conditions, but outside pregnancy — everything from infertility to menstrual cycle control problems. You can’t do obstetrics if you’re not a gynaecologist.

One of the good things about the Irish health system is that in most hospitals you have a mixture of public and private care on the one campus, so all of the consultants are available during the day, and there